Through the portal
Swirls of color popped before Sunset’s eyes as her body was stretched through the portal. She would’ve screamed from the pain if she could have. No air entered her lungs and her muscles refused to act on her commands. All she could do was endure, comforted by the thought that it would end soon.
After what felt to her like hours, Sunset finally felt something solid. She forced her eyelids open, instantly regretting it as the bright light burned her over sensitive eyes. She endured a burning in her chest before she remembered she had to breathe, and each pull and push that had once come without thought felt like torture. Minutes passed of her lying there, wherever there was, breathing.
She very, very slowly opened her eyes again and saw fields of shimmering blues and purples. The ground below her was hard and cold, but she wasn’t able to feel the discomfort through the agony in her muscles. She slowly let her eyes close once more, focusing on a small beat in the ground growing steadily louder. It sounded oddly familiar. It took her far too long to recognize them as hooves.
She forced her eyes open to see a few vaguely equine shaped blobs approach, the middle being a bright pink. Their voices reached her ears, though they sounded muffled and caused an intense ringing. She couldn’t even consider trying to respond. The best she could do was groan at them. The voices grew louder and more urgent and she whimpered, wishing to simply cease her existence. Her entire body felt as though it was on fire, and she had yet to realize that wasn’t normal.
Finally, she felt something grab her and hoist her limp form into the air. That got a response. The screams that wouldn’t come before loosed themselves from her throat. Celestials above, was movement supposed to hurt that much? Startled, the guard that had grabbed her with his magic faultered and she flopped back onto the ground, eyes shimmering and chest heaving. Urgent voices pierced her head, the ringing growing continuously more intense. After... well, Sunset wasn’t sure how long, a new sensation broke through the pain. It was... relief. A cool sensation moved slowly across her skin and into her muscles. Slowly, ever so slowly, her entire body relaxed. Tears welled in her eyes from the sheer relief and she didn’t have the will power to stop them. With the pain gone, her mind slipped back to the folds of unconsciousness.
***
Floating. Sunset was floating. She could feel herself rising back to her body before even remembering she had a body. All at once, the weight hit her and she felt the mass of her limbs like lead. Her head swam as she cracked her eyes open. She blinked a few times as the ceiling above came into focus. She heard rustling around her and she attempted to lift her head, but was only able to twitch upwards and fall back, a groan escaping her throat.
“Sunset?”
Sunset took a deep breath and forced her head up, eyes scanning the room. Purple and pink sat beside her.
“Oh, let me move these up for you!” The same voice as before said. Sunset felt the pillows shift behind her and sighed as her head rested against them once more. She focused on the lavender pony leaning over her. She was so familiar.
“T-Twilight?”
Pink eyes flashed before her. Sad and worried, but hopeful. Twilight smiled at her.
“Hi, Sunny.”
Sunset breathed deeply.
“Where am I? Wh-what is this?”
A small gasp from the other side. Sunset’s head swiveled to the other side. A pink mare sat in a stool. Her tri-toned hair fell in loose curls over her... oh. Wings. Wings and a horn. Basic knowledge came back and Sunset realized this was a new princess. She would’ve bowed if she were able to, but could only manage a weak nod.
“You’re in the Crystal Empire, my kingdom. It lies on the northern edge of Equestria.” The pink alicorn explained kindly. Sunset nodded, trying to conjure a mental map of the nation and failing.
Twilight smiled fondly at the unicorn and gently pulled her into a hug, wings folding around Sunset’s back.
“Welcome home, Sunny”
Unable to find the words to respond, Sunset turned her head towards a breeze tickling at her cheek. She stared out the open window. Although she didn’t recognize any of the surrounding town, she watched as the ponies far below went about their days. Birds sang and chased each others silhouettes across the sun. The sun... Her sun... tears welled in Sunset’s eyes again and she slumped back into the pillows.
“O-oh...” a tear trickled down the curve of her muzzle. Twilight placed a hoof against Sunset’s shoulder and she looked down at it, following it back to the face of its owner.
“You should get some rest. Coming through the portal really did a toll on you. After you feel ready, we can head back to Cant-“
Twilight was cut off as Sunset suddenly began to stand. She shot a worried glance at Cadance who merely shrugged before helping to make sure Sunset didn’t tumble head first into the Crystal.
“I’m perfectly fine. I’m completely ready. Please, I can handle a train ride” sunset pleaded. Before Twilight could answer however, Cadance lightly cleared her throat. Both mares turned to look at her.
“I’m very sorry, but I’m afraid I must take my leave now. Unfortunately, running a kingdom leaves one with very little free time” Cadance stood, wings ruffling slightly. She walked around the bed to stand beside Twilight, using her wing to pull her into a hug. “Welcome home, Sunset Shimmer.”
Sunset instantly dropped into an awkward bow from her perch on the bed.
“Thank you, Princess”
Both Cadnace and Twilight chuckled, the former casually waving a pink hoof at Sunset. “Please, just call me Cadance. I look forward to seeing you again.” She turned and left the room, flanked by two previously unnoticed guards. Sunset took note of two more guards standing at attention on the other side of the room. She looked questioningly back at Twilight who sighed and sat on the cold crystal again. “Those are my personal guards. These come with quite the price” she bitterly smiled, half spreading her large wings. Sunset nodded in understanding before looking back at the guards. The first looked just as sunset would’ve expected. An amber Pegasus mare clad in golden armor, a small spear tucked below one of her wings. The other, however, looked far different from any guard- or pony, for that matter- that Sunset had ever seen. She had cool gray skin and purple armor. A red, curly mane fell across her shoulders and two ivory horns sprouted from behind her ears. Leathery bats wings were tucked at her sides and a long, serpentine tail swayed slowly behind her. Slitted emerald eyes flared at her, and Sunset gulped.
Twilight loudly cleared her throat and the guard went pink, gaze shifting to the floor. Sunset looked back at Twilight.
“Are you absolutely sure you’re ready? It’s reallly no trouble to stay here and rest for another day...” she trailed off. Sunset looked at her and smiled, nodding. She was finally going home.
Stats
Page generated in 0.051 seconds
Total duration
813 users online
689,346 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Not even joking: I was just finishing filling someone in on Anon-A-Miss fics and had recommended this very story to them when this updated.
Talk about timing, eh?
I'm not sure how to feel about this story anymore.
It gotten confusing towards the end.
I mean last i remember Rainbow was bing a bitch in denial, and looked to be losing Pinkie and Fluttershy's friendship along the way everyone was going thru hell, and then you jumped ahead. to beyond the friendship games and no bloody idea what is going on NOW!
8980638
I’m very sorry. I know the plot is messed up compared to the timing of the canon, but the way I’ve always written is with a separate timeline. Not sure if that’ll help at all. With RD and fluttershy/pinkie, they didn’t ‘stop being friends’, flutter/ pinkie were just upset with Dash. RD was pushing everything down and trying to deny, yes, but even she knew how totally F’ed up everything was. I tried to show all five of them going through their own process and more or less leaving the others alone before deciding they needed to act. They had a mutual understanding for how and why the others reacted the ways that they did. But I’m truly sorry that you aren’t enjoying the story anymore. I cant fix many of these without completely rewriting the story. I’m very, very sorry, though and I hope that you’ll find more stories you really enjoy! If you like darker ones, I have quite a few reccomendations, would you like them.
8980617
Holy crap that’s actually so sweet. Thank you so so much!!!
8980617 What are the odds of that happening?
8980655
With how rarely I update, very, very slim.
In this story is sunset a human in equestrian or is she a pony? Because there was a story where sunset was a human in equestrian
Awkward fanfics for awkward canon.
8980683
In this story, sunset is a human while in the human world and a pony while in Equestria
8980712
Ok good to know
This has been a great & sad story of Sunset getting betrayed during the Anon-A-Miss Arc.
Wow. I didn't realize going through the portal would do that much of a number on Sunset.
8980758
Thank you!
8981028
Yes, I actually thought about that quite a bit. I imagined that after years and years of being human, going through the portal and having her body completely re-arranged would hurt.
8981043
8980450
Thank you captain
Okay! Finished the reread and the new chapter! And I gotta say, I'm excited as to how this'll pan out! Sunset's back in Equestria, her human friends have been all but abandoned, and Sunset is oddly eager to go to Canterlot. Will she go to Celestia? How will she adjust to living in Pony society again? Will the Rainbooms be bold enough to try and follow her in an attempt to repair their relationship? I can't wait to find out!
One minor thing I've noticed that might be confusing to most is the timeline of events. It seems as though this starts prior to Friendship Games, but the previous chapter ended with SciTwi present and this chapter began with the mirror in the Chrystal Empire instead of the Castle of Friendship. I can see this being explained in one of two ways: depression of this scale can slowly build over time until the afflicted succumbs, or this takes place on an alternate timeline to the canon (SciTwi's Midnight Hour happened independently of the Friendship Games, the mirror hasn't moved yet because bureaucracy, etc.). I can see the latter as a more likely option this far in.
Other than that small flub, I can't find much else to talk about. Again, really looking forward to the next chapter! I want to see where you take this!
Awesome job on this chapter it awesome
8982798
I’m glad you liked it! And yes, tbh I added scitwi without thinking. She just seemed like a good fit. And the way I imagine it is that they met scitwi some other way. A coffee shop or just out and about and all started talking bc wow another twilight! And I didn’t even know the mirror had been moved. I watched the friendship games forever ago rip. Sorry for those inconsistencies, and I’m glad you still enjoyed it!!
8983721
Yeah. In Rainbow Rocks, Princess Twilight moved the mirror to her castle and hooked it up to magic machinery held together with duct tape, bubblegum, and all the prayers and wishes, in an attempt to return and help with the Siren Threat.
But hey! If this is an alternate universe, that just gives the chance for a spin-off detailing your version of meeting SciTwi!